East Oregonian : E.O., May 11, 2017, Page Page 8A, Image 8

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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, May 11, 2017
TRAINING: Many of Germany’s troops are also trained scientists
Continued from 1A
chemical weapons, decoy
targets were set up. Troops
had to navigate their way
through, analyzing what
they saw and determining
whether they needed to come
back, or send the information
to higher authorities.
Scientists in the Foxhole
As the troops worked,
about 20 scientists followed
and observed.
“We bring scientists from
national laboratories out to
training events,” said Maj.
Donald. “They see what
types of stuff we work on,
and modify it for real world
usage.”
The program, called
“Scientists in the Foxhole,”
allows
scientists
who
develop products or medi-
cines used on the battlefield
to refine their own skills and
knowledge.
“Most people in labs have
never been in the military
and have never seen what
our mission is,” said Lt. Col.
Mary Miller, who has run
the Scientists in the Foxhole
program for the last few
years. “How do you develop
technology for a mission
you’ve never seen? We’ll
get weird technology where
you can understand why they
thought it would work, but in
application it doesn’t make
sense.”
Lt. Col. Miller herself is
a scientist, with a Ph.D. in
microbiology and immu-
nology. Her doctoral studies
focused on the Ebola virus.
Before she took on a more
technical role in the Army
she was a Medivac pilot.
But many military scien-
tists don’t have the same
opportunity to see what’s
going on in the field.
“We try to bridge that
gap,” she said. “The whole
point is that when scientists
get back to the lab, they can
share what they’ve learned
with their peers.”
Doug Carasoli was one of
the scientists in the program.
He works with the Institute
of Chemical Defense at the
Aberdeen Proving Ground in
Maryland.
“Our institute makes
medical counter-measures,”
he said. “If a (chemical)
agent gets through to you
and you get sick, that’s what
we do.”
While his group only
makes medical products that
apply “skin and in,” some
others in the group of scien-
tists make suits, protective
outerwear and other gear.
“The point for us is to
come out and get a practical
vision of all the other parts,”
he said. “It gives us perspec-
tive of what the people in the
green suits actually do.”
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A German officer talks to a group of scientists from all over the country who
are participating in a program called Scientists in the Foxhole, which includes
simulation exercises at the Umatilla Army Depot
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Soldiers get ready Sunday for simulation exercises
at the Umatilla Army Depot.
“If you’ve seen anything since Kosovo
in the 1990s — we just don’t fight
wars alone anymore. If we need to
decontaminate, we’re going to call the
Germans. That’s how good they are.”
— Maj. Ryan Donald, 20th CBRNE command
In the bunkers
Over the course of the
training, troops had to
analyze several different
scenarios. In one bunker,
rows of munitions were
set up on the ground, one
of which was leaking. In
another bunker there were
booby traps on the ground
around the area with poten-
tial targets.
“They get thrown lots
of curve balls,” Miller said.
“Something could tell them
it’s mustard gas, but it’s
something else. They have
a lot to think about, a lot of
information to gather.”
At another bunker a
few minutes away, troops
in masks analyzed another
scenario, in which people
were using spent fuel from a
reactor to extract plutonium,
which could be used to make
a nuclear weapon.
“They’ve been in once,
assessed for chemical and
radiological hazards,” said
Maj. Aaron Ferguson. “Now,
they’re removing some
computers and documents
that might provide some
intelligence.”
Matt Kalfoglou from the
CBRNE Analytical Reme-
diation Activity team was
also on hand to explain what
happens on a real chemical
investigation.
“(It’s) a mobile lab. We
go out and do analysis,” he
said. “We help with training
and setting up targets so
they have more real-world
experience.”
He
walked
through
a room that was set up
with a series of steps in
a hypothetical chemical
weapon-building process.
From the control room and
preparation area to a room
where the weapon would
actually be constructed, he
explained the potential steps
and conclusions that could
be drawn from each area.
“A lot of information
you’ll be getting will be
secondhand,” he said. “You
have to work with what
you’ve got.”
Kalfoglou said his team
has been deployed to the
Middle East in the last couple
of years, and work hand in
hand with a forensics unit.
“We focus mainly on
explosives,” he said. “We’ve
seen a couple of live samples.
PENDLETON: Wants to increase business licenses
Continued from 1A
percent (2016: $912 million)
• Increase airport lease
revenues
(2016
Fourth
Quarter: $79,196)
• Create an accounting
of unfilled jobs at 10 largest
employers
• Increase number of jobs
in city limits
Land development
• Increase “shovel ready”
industrial lands by 10 percent
within two years
• Increase commercial
building permit numbers by
10 percent
•
Increase
business
licenses
• Increase the assessed
land value of commercial and
industrial land
Mother’s
Day is
May 14 th
Housing
• Increase new dwelling
unit construction year over
year to 50 units per year
(2016 housing: 10 units)
Although
the
goal
planning process has now
stretched out to a year, there’s
still more work to be done.
Corbett said the goals and
measurables need to include
“action items” — the actual
concrete actions the city will
take to meet the goals.
Corbett said a lack of
action items has kept the goals
from being implemented
sooner.
“I just haven’t done it,”
he said. “I sometimes get
distracted with other things in
my job.”
At the council workshop,
the council seemed amenable
to Corbett providing updates
on all of the goals in the
meeting agenda packets.
Additionally, Corbett said
staff could provide more
in-depth reports on a singular
goal during the council’s
monthly workshops.
Councilor Dale Primmer,
who worked on developing
the goals with Turner and
councilor Scott Fairley, said
the updates are important to
determine whether the city
was meeting a goal or in need
of a course correction.
Primmer said it was also
important to communicate
these goals to the public rather
than have the conversation
driven by people only inter-
ested in “vitriolic nonsense.”
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A German soldier takes a breather from simulation exercises at the Umatilla
Army Depot. He stands outside a portable shower complex set up for chemical
decontamination.
There’s some frightening
stuff.”
Interoperability
Troops from various U.S.
Army facilities, including
Fort Bliss in Texas and
Aberdeen Proving Grounds
in Maryland, as well as about
20 German troops from the
country’s decontamination
platoon. They had several
pieces of equipment they
used to demonstrate safety
precautions that troops
should take after being near
chemical agents.
Along with some basic
areas set up to clean boots
and store contaminated
masks, the German troops
had a large metal module,
“Module 2,” which was
designed for decontamina-
tion in the field.
Each side of the module
has a purpose. On one side,
troops can put contaminated
clothing into a chamber and
close the door. The module
steams them, and deposits
them out the other side.
Another side of the module
has a vacuum compartment
to clean electronic devices,
and another has a grate where
weapons can be cleaned.
Unlike the U.S. Army,
many of Germany’s troops
are also trained scientists,
said German Lt. Col. Dirk
Veeck.
“We try to train them as
soldiers and scientists,” Lt.
Col. Veeck said. “We like to
have that expertise with us
on our missions.”
Overall, Lt. Col. Veeck
said, their goal is to be able
to operate seamlessly with
other NATO forces.
“We build up a training
relationship with the U.S.,”
he said.
Maj. Donald said training
and cooperating with other
nations’ armies has become
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“If you’ve seen anything
since Kosovo in the 1990s
— we just don’t fight wars
alone anymore. If we need to
decontaminate, we’re going
to call the Germans. That’s
how good they are.”
With discussions about
nuclear and chemical warfare
frequently in national news,
Maj. Donald said these types
of preparation will likely
increase.
“The threat of CBRN
(chemical,
biological,
radiological and nuclear
weapons) and EOD (explo-
sive ordnance disposal) is
increasing,” he said. “There
is a lot more attention to it.
We probably will see more
trainings.”
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
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